Youri Tielemans has praised Marcus Rashford as "humble" and "hard-working" after the forward returned to Manchester United's first-team squad, expressing hope that Rashford can replicate the impact he made at Aston Villa.
Rashford's Return to United
Rashford spent the second half of the 2024/25 season on loan at Aston Villa, playing alongside Tielemans, after being frozen out at United by then-manager Ruben Amorim. He was again sidelined last summer and spent the season on loan at Barcelona, but the Catalan club declined to make the move permanent for £26 million. This week, Rashford has been back in a United first-team squad for the first time in 18 months.
Tielemans' Verdict on Rashford
Speaking about his time with Rashford at Villa, Tielemans said: "He was great. There had been so much talk about him and bringing pressure and the media around him, but I thought he was just so good." He added: "He was very humble, he was just hard working, and from the first training you could tell his touch, his acceleration was just amazing. That was just what we needed at the time at Villa as well, so he did many good things in that time and hopefully he can bring them here."
Reunions with Former Teammates
Rashford is not the only familiar face for Tielemans in the United squad, having played with Harry Maguire and now first-team coach Jonny Evans at Leicester City. Tielemans noted: "I played with Harry for just a bit less than six months and it was great at the time. You could see him and Jonny had a great partnership. Harry was younger at the time and Jonny was guiding him a bit more, but you could see his qualities on the ball. Defensively, he is rock solid, so I think he has improved a lot over the years as well."
On Evans, he said: "Jonny has always been a main character. He has always been trying to educate young players and he welcomed me at Leicester, and now here. It is a bit weird to see him as staff member, to be honest, but no, it is going great. He knows me, he knows what I need and what I can bring to the team, so it helps me as well."
